Blood pressure puts pregnant women at risk, being fit can help

SHARE | Sunday, 15 March 2015 | By Ontametse Sugar

We used to hear of blood pressure affecting older people more before, but now things have totally taken a different turn, and both the young and the old find themselves having to battle with it. Blood pressure is defined as the amount of force exerted by the blood against the walls of the arteries. High blood pressure which is normally called hypertension, contributes to the development of coronary diseases like stroke, heart failure and kidney disease among others. Though it seems like it has been easy for other people to battle it out with the medication given and monitoring, it seems to be a threat to the pregnant mothers and their unborn children. Recently most women have been complaining about blood pressure, which normally leads to women giving birth through the caesarean section in the effort to bring the baby out before it does any harm to both the mother and the baby. Clinical Doctor Nancy Otukile said that though some pregnant women do have a normal pregnancy and are bale to deliver normally even if they have the hypertension, there are those that it has put both the baby and the mother in danger. One young woman who pleaded for anonymity said that she lost her baby about three weeks back because of blood pressure, in what was called preeclampsia. She said that she was at the sixth month of her gestational period, in which with regular check-ups and with her not feeling too well, the doctor told her that they had to remove the baby from her because it puts so much risk to both her and the baby. She was then admitted to the hospital where the baby who was born premature, died a few hours after birth. She said that has been devastating for her and didn’t know how to deal with the loss because after all she does not have any idea as to what exactly caused the high blood pressure. “I was trying by all means to eat the right food and make sure that I avoid all things that I have been told by the doctor to avoid. But this blood pressure thing is something else because I saw a lot of women lose their babies because of that," she said. On what exactly might have caused the death of the baby and what is preeclampsia Otukile said that it normally happens after 5 months of pregnancy, which is caused by so much protein in the mother's urine and also increased blood pressure. She said that it is one of the leading causes of foetal implications and deaths. She said that the thing is that there is always not a proven way to cure preeclampsia other than to deliver the baby. Otukile advised that it is important for women to know their blood pressure conditions before they get pregnant. She said that will definitely help a long way in making sure that they take in measures to make sure that it is reduced first for them to have healthy pregnancies. “It is always helpful that women know their health statuses before getting pregnant especially for those that are suffering from kidney disease, lupus and diabetes among others. When you are obese and want to get pregnant it is always advisable to lose weight before you do so in order to avoid any complications that will come with you gaining baby weight," she said. She advised that it is significant for pregnant women to keep healthy all the time and be active by either swimming or walking, and do many other exercises that can be done by pregnant women.